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Luis Belén, CEO of NHIT, discusses how his personal history in Puerto Rico and the Bronx, as well as his cancer journey, have shaped his work in increasing care access for underserved communities.

IT executives who aspire to be chief AI officers should be passionate, understand that what they do improves lives, build strong partnerships to solve complex challenges, says Mouneer Odeh, the new chief data and AI officer at Cedars-Sinai.

Dr. Tamara Sunbul, digital health transformation and innovation strategic adviser in Saudi Arabia, advises digital health newcomers to gain both healthcare and technology education and to seek out mentors to help grow their careers.

Bob Dichter, founder and career coach at Phoenix Rising Career Services, recommends that newcomers to the industry determine how their knowledge and experience can apply to healthcare IT and articulate their value clearly.

Debra Beauregard of Rady Children's Health says aligning new technology with a hospital's strategic priorities and ensuring that clinicians understand the digital road map are essential to making hospitals smarter.

Tjasa Zajc, special advisor for HIMSS, says HIMSS25 Europe will bring in government staff to talk about implementing the European Health Data Space and health system leaders to share use cases for AI and digital technology.

Dr. Ronald Rodriguez, professor of urology UT Health San Antonio, says that the MD/MS in AI dual degree program is designed to generate chief AI officers, clinical AI implementation specialists, healthcare data scientists and AI consultants.  

Dr. Ronald Rodriguez, urology professor at UT Health San Antonio, says a new dual MD/MS degree in AI assures that students are not just familiar with the concepts of AI but are actually users and developers of AI at its most fundamental level.

Nelita Iuppa, Cleveland Clinic's executive director of informatics and a 2025 HIMSS Changemaker Award recipient, advises aspiring health IT leaders build relationships, document their journeys to learn from the changes they've made and embrace flexibility as new tools emerge.

According to Julia Zarb, Blue x Blue CEO and founder, embracing complexity, developing strong analytical skills and understanding common sensibilities and values can help newcomers succeed in the health IT field.